As most of you know, I joined a group of close mission-minded friends to study the book “The Hole in Our Gospel” by Richard Stearns, the President of World Vision. This book was very powerful and further increased my passion and desire to serve Africa as well as other nations struggling with poverty and prompted my small group of friends to create a project for an organization called Cargo of Dreams. I became aware of Cargo of Dreams while serving in South Africa in 2009. They convert containers into “edutainers” for classrooms or “meditainers” medical clinics. Facilities can also be used at night for community centers. It is a really cool process and you can watch a demo of the conversion on their website, as well as find out more information about the organization, by visiting: www.cargoofdreams.org. Below is my favorite excerpt from the book:
Imagine for a moment that you woke up to the headlines reading “One Hundred Jetliners Crash, Killing 26, 500.” Think of the pandemonium this would create across the world as heads of state, parliaments, and congresses convened to grapple with the nature and causes of this tragedy. Think about the avalanche of media coverage that would ignite around the globe as reporters shared the shocking news and tried to communicate its implications for the world. Air travel would no doubt grind to a halt as governments shut down the airlines and panicked air travelers canceled their trips. The National Transportation Safety Board and perhaps the FBI, CIA, and local law enforcement agencies and their international equivalents would mobilize investigations and dedicate any necessary manpower to understand what happened.
Now imagine that the very next day, 100 more planes crashed, and then 100 more the next day, and the next, and the next. It is unimaginable.
But it did, and it does.
It happened yesterday, today, and will happen tomorrow and the next day, and so on. However, there will be no media coverage. No government agencies will stop daily business to address the crisis. And…all of the deaths are preventable.
More than 26,500 children die daily of preventable causes related to poverty. Almost 10 million children will be dead in the course of a year.
Even though we have the awareness, the access, and the ability to stop it, why have we chosen not to? Luckily, several many of us, and many of you, have made the choice to respond.
To raise money and awareness for our project, we have been babysitting for fundraising and we are hosting a wine tasting event on June 27 as well. In order to make this a community project so that everyone is able to use their time and talents, we included the kids that we babysat. Check out the maracas that one family had fun making:
Although the children are ages 2 & 3, they can still use their talents to serve others who have less than they do while learning that some kids have very different lives than them. Never underestimate the ability of others to help. We all have the ability to help in some way.
Here is a picture of the crèche (preschool) that we visited last year in South Africa that was provided by Cargo of Dreams. For those of you who donated shoes last year, many of them went here.
To raise money and awareness for our project, we have been babysitting for fundraising and we are hosting a wine tasting event on June 27 as well. In order to make this a community project so that everyone is able to use their time and talents, we included the kids that we babysat. Check out the maracas that one family had fun making:
Although the children are ages 2 & 3, they can still use their talents to serve others who have less than they do while learning that some kids have very different lives than them. Never underestimate the ability of others to help. We all have the ability to help in some way.
Here is a picture of the crèche (preschool) that we visited last year in South Africa that was provided by Cargo of Dreams. For those of you who donated shoes last year, many of them went here.
What I love about serving alongside Monte Christo, our host organization, is that they focus on community development and sustainable projects to address poverty. They are responding to the 26,500 on a daily basis and working to create projects that will sustain the ministries and food supplies long after they have gone.We are still collecting donations for the trip in August. We are collecting donations that will serve the following ministries: Homeless, Sonstraal TB Hospital, Butterfly House, and Boland School for Autism.
As a reminder, we are collecting the following items:
Art and class materials
Art aprons, play dough utensils, short thick paint brushes, colored paper, plastic filing sleeves, A4 plastic filing envelopes, self adhesive Velcro, safety scissors for left and right handed children and laminating pouches.
Toys
Wind-up toys, play telephones (small), jump ropes, plastic wild/farm animals, dolls, large plastic food toys, wooden puzzles, puzzles with big pieces (e.g. 6, 12 or 18 pieces), sequence shape/color beads, different shaped beanbags.
Books
Small board books for younger children
Knitting materials
Knitting needles sizes 6, 7, 8, 9
Skeins of yarn (the thicker the better…it is Winter there)
Thank you for the countless emails, financial donations, donated supplies, and words of encouragement.
If you have not given and would like to, please do. We would love for our supporter community to grow. I believe that we are all pieces that complete a puzzle. Each of us have something to give, and each contribution is as important as the other. Which piece will you be?
Poverty can be overwhelming so I focus on what I, or a small group of friends, can do. Don’t fail to do something because you can’t do everything. As Mother Teresa so simply states, “If you can’t feed 100 people, just feed one.”
Many thanks and blessings,
Danielle
Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed, citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has. –Margaret Mead
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